EEVblog #1099- BattBump - Dumbest Kickstarter Ever!

[EEVblog]

BattBump - A mobile app to share battery charge via NFC!
Yes, it's as stupid as it sounds.
Either an elaborate joke, or the dumbest Kickstarter idea ever.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1749849235/battbump-an-app-to-share-and-receive-phone-battery/

Sony Patent: https://patents.google.com/patent/US20170063431

[Richard Crowley]

If the USPTO is undiscerning enough to issue a patent for a ham sandwich, why shouldn't they issue a patent to this?
It may be enabling technology for a perpetual motion machine or zero-point energy.

[Brumby]

Dave, I got to 3 minutes and a few seconds in your video and I had to walk away.

I'll come back and finish watching later ... when my head has adjusted and will (hopefully) not explode.

[innkeeper]

OMG i wish I thought of this joke...freaking hilarious.. my kudos to the creator 

[wilfred]

It IS a joke. A piss-take(*) on crowdfunding, blockchain and cryptocurrency.

I don't think the fun should be spoiled. Everyone should be free to do their own joke KS campaigns.

(*) piss-take in British. noun informal. something that is done to tease or make fun of someone or something; a parody or lampoon.

[EEVblog]

They just changed the campaign an hour or two after I released my video! 

Confirms that this it legit 

[julianhigginson]

that could almost work if you used usb cables... and people were happy to stand around awkwardly for 2 hours to buy and sell 20% of a battery charge....

[EEVblog]

It IS a joke. A piss-take(*) on crowdfunding, blockchain and cryptocurrency.
I don't think the fun should be spoiled. Everyone should be free to do their own joke KS campaigns.

Someone just told me they contacted her using the web form as an "investor" and I have her response, it seems legit, she is pointing interested investors to go and back the campaign.

[Bud]

Meet in person and bump together the phones? Boring.... My Kickstarter will be for battery charge sharing via phone calls. You call your buddy, you know, and say hey, can you share a bit of your battery charge with me, i am running out of juice.No need to meet and can work thousand miles away. Better yet, you can have a monthly subscription to my cloud service, just dial the number , run the app and charge your phone. That is the way to do it.

[Brumby]

.... So, this campaign is about technology that doesn't yet exist ... and has no inherent benefit to the purchaser of a new phone that would have it.

Battery life on one's own phone is an issue as it is, yet they want to export some of this power?!!  Talk about battery abuse!

[Brumby]

... and that's not even addressing the practical issues (such as the time element) for such a transfer.

[LapTop006]

that could almost work if you used usb cables... and people were happy to stand around awkwardly for 2 hours to buy and sell 20% of a battery charge....

More than almost, this is explicitly supported if both phones use USB-C (Android gives you an option in this case), for USB2 slightly less so, but would work with an OTG adapter and a micro-USB cable if they're older devices.

[Brumby]

... and it would be far more efficient and immeasurably faster than wireless of any kind.

[Fungus]

If the USPTO is undiscerning enough to issue a patent for a ham sandwich, why shouldn't they issue a patent to this?

PTO is not supposed to be highly technically competent.

They also don't get paid if they reject things. 

[wilfred]

It IS a joke. A piss-take(*) on crowdfunding, blockchain and cryptocurrency.
I don't think the fun should be spoiled. Everyone should be free to do their own joke KS campaigns.

Someone just told me they contacted her using the web form as an "investor" and I have her response, it seems legit, she is pointing interested investors to go and back the campaign.

Well, that is disappointing to hear. As a joke it was a bloody good one, and really well done. I so wish I was clever enough to have thought of it.

[EEVblog]

Looks like she's not happy.
She has filed a privacy complaint with Youtube (didn't know there was such a thing)

Ridiculous. Her name is public on the campaign, here photo is on the campaign, her website has her full name, photo and bio etc, all public stuff.

I don't even know how to respond officially, need to investigate.

[EEVblog]

Looks like she has now deleted her KS profile and photo and the project is canceled. Probably the don't allow you to change your name.
Trying to erase the entire thing and her involvement in it perhaps?
This was obviously no joke campaign.

[Muttley Snickers]

Sounds like  the only thing likely to get bumped is the video.   

I suspect that this privacy card could result in a substantial number of existing videos now possibly requiring redaction, re-touching or being pulled altogether, and perhaps another trap set for creators to watch out for.   

[EEVblog]

And you guessed it, she has now removed her photo from her website!
She is trying to vanish from the Internet over this boondoggle. Don't really blame her, it's pretty embarrassing, but hey, it's the Internet, she put herself out there very publicly.

[EEVblog]

AND the www.battbump.com website is gone too!

[wilfred]

And you guessed it, she has now removed her photo from her website!
She is trying to vanish from the Internet over this boondoggle. Don't really blame her, it's pretty embarrassing, but hey, it's the Internet, she put herself out there very publicly.

Would you consider removing the video and letting this one go through to the 'keeper? Maybe she's just young and a bit too silly. I don't really want to know too much about her but I do feel for a young person who makes a poor decision and has to live with it.

[EEVblog]

Would you consider removing the video and letting this one go through to the 'keeper? Maybe she's just young and a bit too silly. I don't really want to know too much about her but I do feel for a young person who makes a poor decision and has to live with it.

Maybe I would if she asked me.
She has both my email and phone number but has not contacted me about it.
So it's basically a principle thing, and it has precedent for all my other debunking and other videos.

[Fungus]

AND the www.battbump.com website is gone too!

Damn, I missed all the action.

[Towger]

The Linkedin link (https://www.linkedin.com/in/redacted/) on her website (https://www.redacted.co/bio-contact) goes to a page for 'redacted', also a redacted from redacted.

[MT]

What if this was just yet another "kick-starter" fraud attempt? Surely if she know about NFC i assume she
did, she must have known its severe limitations and now when exposed tries to vanish like a snowflake?

Lots of non tech people can easily fall in to such campaigns and loose money. Just saying.